


The Secret Life of the American Teacher

by deadhuntress



Category: Supernatural
Genre: (sort of), Alternate Universe - Teachers, Back to School, Established Relationship, Fluff, High School, M/M, Married Castiel/Dean Winchester, Secret Relationship, Supernatural Writing Challenge September 2016, Teacher Castiel, Teacher Dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-14 11:04:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8011192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadhuntress/pseuds/deadhuntress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first day of school and the new gym teacher at Lawrence High is causing quite a stir among Castiel's students.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Secret Life of the American Teacher

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the [SPN Writing Challenge](http://spnwritingchallenge.tumblr.com/) for September 2016.  
> Partner: [someoneoffthestreet](http://someoneoffthestreet.tumblr.com/)  
> Theme: Autumn  
> Prompt: Back-to-School

When Castiel walked into the classroom after his lunch break, his sixth period English class was abuzz with chatter. This, of course, was normal on the first day of school, though after a minute or two of listening to the students talk, he had noticed a similarity in the conversations: it was apparent that most of his students had just come from gym class, and they all seemed to be focused on one thing – the new gym teacher.

Castiel listened in amusement as he wrote the day’s agenda on the board, allowing a small smile at the twelfth graders discussing how attractive and funny and kind and a number of other great qualities the new teacher was, how they might even enjoy the class this year, how they wondered if the guy was _available_ (that one came with winks and grins and a grimace from Cas), how they couldn’t wait to have class again. Cas raised his eyebrows when he heard that; that thought had certainly never crossed his mind when he was in high school, though he’d also never had a teacher as attractive as this one was described to be.

Once the bell rang, Cas turned around with a smile and greeted his students warmly. Being the first day, the chorus of replies was much louder and more enthusiastic than he knew it’d be after another week or so.

“How have your days been?” Castiel asked, leaning against the corner of his desk and glancing around the room.

Two dark-haired girls in the front row giggled. Cas raised his eyebrows at them and they blushed faintly. “There’s a new gym teacher this year,” one of them said, glancing briefly at the other.

“He’s super hot,” the other added with a grin, earning a chorus of laughter and agreement from the rest of the class.

“Is that so?” Castiel asked, fighting back an amused smile.

The first girl nodded, looking mildly embarrassed, but not enough to disagree with her friend’s observation. “Yeah.”

Cas gave her a smile but said nothing more, instead choosing to turn to the other side of the room and ask someone else a question before switching topics and taking roll, during which he learned that the first two girls were named Marie and Maeve. Class continued without a hitch and by the end of the period, Cas had nearly forgotten about the excitement over the new gym teacher.

Castiel didn’t forget for long, though. The next day, he walked in to his students gushing over how talented the man was at baseball, though he could have lived without the description of the man’s sweat-slicked muscles under his shorts and t-shirt, which were apparently of the perfect proportion of not too big and not too small.

“D’you think he’s married?” he heard a girl named Krissy ask.

Her friend – a girl named Josephine – shook her head as she dug around in her backpack and finally emerged with a dark red notebook. “He doesn’t have a ring.”

“You’re right,” Krissy replied thoughtfully, biting the cap of her pen as she considered that. “Does he have a girlfriend?” she wondered aloud. “Or a boyfriend?”

Josephine shrugged. “Don’t know. If he does though, that person’s super lucky.”

“I know, right?” Krissy grinned. “I’m jealous.”

She may have been too preoccupied to notice the boy next to her frowning in envy, but Castiel wasn’t, and turned away to hide the smile on his face. _Oh, to be eighteen and crushing hard again_ , he thought.

\---

The next day it was, “Did you hear Mr. Winchester told his second period class he’s with someone? Ava Wilson said she thinks it’s another teacher here.” Krissy was leaning in close to Josephine as she spoke, though Castiel could still hear every word. “I think it’s Ms. Bradbury,” she confided, sitting back again. “I’ve seen them together and they look really close.”

Josephine shook her head. “Ms. Bradbury’s married. I had her for computer programming last year and she told us her wife is a police officer.”

“Wait, really?” Krissy said, tilting her head to consider that and looking impressed. “That’s awesome.”

“Isn’t it?”

Castiel held back a smile at that; Charlie and Dorothy were both good friends, and he would make sure to mention that conversation to them later.

\---

A few days later, news of the gym teacher came from Marie, who had apparently overheard him telling one of the history teachers, Mr. Lafitte, about the date night he was planning for that Friday. Castiel’s ears perked up slightly at that one until Marie added that as soon as they’d seen her they’d stopped talking, so she didn’t hear anything more.

\---

Aaron Bass was the next to get a scoop on the apparently fascinating gym teacher, who had impressed all the students, once again, with his stories of all the places he’d lived as a kid. He had told them about being an army brat (his words) and moving around the country every time his dad was transferred. According to Aaron, who had asked him after class if he still liked taking trips around the country, he still traveled when he could, though it was no longer with his parents most of the time.

“So what then, it’s with a long-term girlfriend or boyfriend?” Marie asked when Aaron had finished talking.

“I guess,” Maeve replied with a shrug. “That makes the most sense, doesn’t it?”

“I wonder who it is,” Aaron added.

Castiel cleared his throat at that point and started class.

\---

It was a week later when Krissy walked into class with a grin on her face, trailed by an eager-looking Josephine and an annoyed-looking Aidan.

“No one cares about your ‘news,’ Krissy,” he muttered petulantly.

“Shut up, Aidan,” Josephine replied. “I care.” She grinned at Krissy. “What’d you hear?” she asked, her excitement getting the attention of a few kids who were nearby.

Krissy grinned too. “I overheard Mr. Winchester on the phone with someone,” she said, and Castiel listened curiously, though he didn’t look up from the quizzes he was grading.

“Yeah, and?” That was the voice of Lisa Braeden, who, Castiel noticed when he raised his eyes, was spun completely around in her chair to hear.

“ _And_ , he was telling whoever it was that he had something special planned for tonight and he mentioned an anniversary.” She paused as the students around her waited expectantly. “Don’t you guys get it?” she said impatiently. No one spoke and Cas heard a dramatic sigh. “Maybe…” she said, drawing the words out. “Maybe he’s gonna propose!”

Marie squealed in what Castiel presumed was delight and loud chatter broke out among the students surrounding Krissy’s desk.

“But that’s not it,” Krissy interrupted, grinning when the focus was turned back to her. “He also said, and I quote, ‘He’s not gonna see it coming.’ Which means–”

“It’s a guy,” Aaron finished. “He has a boyfriend.”

A chorus of aww’s followed his conclusion and Castiel huffed a quiet laugh. He had to admit it was quite amusing to see that the students were so invested in the love life of one of their teachers.

“Well then,” Josephine said as Cas set down his pen. “We know what that means.”

“What?” Lisa asked.

“We’ve narrowed down the list of potential teachers to just men,” Josephine replied with a grin.

Castiel just shook his head.

\---

As he drove home from the school that day, Castiel found himself marveling again at how interested his students were about the personal life of their teacher. At the rate they were going, he thought, it wouldn’t take them long to figure it out. He had to hand it to them; they were very persistent in their search for the truth.

When he reached his house, Cas was greeted at the front door with a sweet kiss and strong arms wrapped around his waist.

“My students are quite enamored with the new gym teacher,” Castiel mentioned as he was pressed back against the closed door.

 “Is that so?” his husband replied, nuzzling into Cas’ neck and making him laugh.

“Not that I blame them,” Cas added as he ran long fingers through cropped brown hair. “You’re very attractive.”

Green eyes the color of summer grass twinkled in amusement. “Not as attractive as you,” Dean said, thumb tracing lightly over the slight dip in Cas’ back as he covered Castiel’s lips with his own once more.

“They’ve also been doing a bit of… investigating,” Cas said when they broke apart. He pressed his lips to Dean’s again and cradled a hand around his face. “They say you’ve got a surprise planned for me tonight,” he continued with a grin. “Something about an anniversary and me ‘not seeing it coming.’ Did you happen to call Sam earlier?”

Dean opened his mouth and then closed it again, realizing what had happened.

“Son of a bitch,” he said, impressed. “They’re good.”

\---

Now that Dean knew how much his students were picking up on, he took great delight in dropping little hints about his and Castiel’s relationship, which Cas then heard about when he got to class. The students now knew for sure that Dean was in a relationship with another teacher in the school and that they had been together since senior year of college. Castiel continued to overhear the conversations before class started and was having trouble repressing the amused grin that threatened to break out every time the students made another conclusion about Mr. Winchester and his ‘mystery man,’ as Marie had taken to calling him.

On a Thursday in early October, Cas got stuck behind an accident on his way to school and arrived late, barely making it to his room before the homeroom bell rang. He didn’t have a chance to check his mailbox before the day started, so during his lunch period, he ate his food quickly and then headed up to the main office.

He gave the secretary, Ms. Moseley, a quick hello and received a distracted wave in return. She had a pen in one hand and her phone in the other, and from the sound of it was dealing with a very impatient and probably very rude parent who was demanding that their daughter not be punished for defacing her locker.

Castiel grabbed his mail and was headed out of the office when he heard his name. He turned and saw Missouri holding out a thermos of coffee, one that Cas recognized immediately.

“Go give this to Dean, please,” she mouthed and Castiel nodded as he crossed the room to the desk. “He left it here this morning,” she added, then turned her attention back to the parent, who still didn’t seem to understand why the school thought their child did anything wrong. He grimaced in sympathy for Missouri. He knew first-hand how hard to deal with some children’s parents were.

Thermos in hand, Cas headed for the gym, where he knew Dean was teaching a class full of Cas’ sixth period students. He walked in quietly just as Dean called everyone over to him to give a few soccer pointers, but the students’ eyes were on Castiel.

“Mr. Novak?” one of the students said finally, interrupting Dean.

At that, Dean turned around, grinning when he spotted Castiel. “Hey, Cas!” he said. “What’cha doin’ here?”

Cas held up the thermos in answer, but the students had caught something else.

“Cas?” Marie said, squinting in confusion. “Do you guys know each other?”

Cas caught Dean’s eye, trying quickly to decide how much they could, or should, reveal, but during that time, the decision was made for them.

“Wait.” That was Krissy, and there was no doubt about what she was about to say. It didn’t surprise Cas that she was the one to figure it out. “Are _you_ Mr. Winchester’s boyfriend?” Krissy asked, staring between them as Cas reached Dean’s side. The class broke out into quiet murmurs until Dean spoke.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

A loud chorus of protests broke out but Dean raised his hand for silence. He grabbed Cas’ hand and sent him an adoring smile.

“He’s my husband.”

The entire gym was shocked silent for a total of ten seconds before any of the students spoke.

“But you don’t have rings,” Maeve said with a confused frown, and the other students nodded.

Castiel shook his head. “We don’t _wear_ rings,” he corrected. “Not here at least. We do at home, and…” With his free hand, he tugged the thin chain he always wore out from under his sweater. Dangling from the center was a slim gold ring that matched the one that Dean had pulled out from around his own neck.

“Not everyone here is as supportive as you guys are,” Dean explained, tucking his ring back under his shirt. “We just keep it quiet.”

“That’s adorable.” That was Josephine, though the others quickly joined in with similar comments.

“I have to admit,” Cas said, “it’s been very entertaining to hear all of your speculations in my class.” He laughed when many eyes widened and voices broke out in explanation.

“Relax,” he said, raising a hand. “I told you, I found it humorous. I had no idea that my students would be so invested in our relationship.”

There were a few shrugs and red faces throughout the crowd, making both Dean and Castiel laugh.

“Okay, guys,” Dean said finally, checking his watch. “Go ahead and change a few minutes early. See you tomorrow.”

The students hurried excitedly to the locker rooms and Dean pulled Cas into his office, taking the thermos from his hand and sitting on the edge of his desk, keeping Castiel close in front of him.

“That was fun,” he said with a grin.

“They were certainly surprised,” Cas agreed with a matching smile.

He let Dean pull him closer for a long kiss, only pulling back when he heard giggling from the hallway outside and heading out the door after another quick kiss.

“See you at home?” he said, pausing in the doorway long enough to see Dean’s nod.

“Love you,” Dean said, mouth quirked up in a fond smile.

“Love you too,” Cas replied as he left the room. He heard a few hushed aww’s from behind the girls’ locker room door – which was suspiciously cracked open – and the corners of his lips turned up in an amused smile as he walked past it.

“See you in class, girls,” he said loudly enough for them to hear him.

“Bye, Mr. Novak,” they chorused through a fit of giggles, and Castiel was laughing as he made his way to his classroom.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on Tumblr at [thetideseternaltune](http://thetideseternaltune.tumblr.com/) (main blog) or [hunterangelkisses](http://hunterangelkisses.tumblr.com/) (SPN sideblog)!


End file.
